11/06/18: The Rookie gets full season order from ABC

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Good morning. It’s Tuesday November 6, 2018 and this is your first early morning briefing.

Tonight’s Premieres:

Velocity: Hand Built Hot Rods at 10p

Tonight’s Finales:

Food Network: Chopped Champions at 9p

FX: Mayans M.C. at 10p

USA: The Purge at 10p

IN THE NEWS

ABC gave a full-season order to freshman series The Rookie. The Nathan Fillion-starrer, about a man following his dream to become a police officer, is growing the time period over the same point last year by 84% in total viewers (to 8.3 million) and 36% among A18-49 (to 1.5/7).

The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln, whose character left the AMC zombie drama on Sunday, isn’t going far. AMC announced a series of AMC Studios Original Films, starring Lincoln and written by chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, that are planned to continue the story of Rick Grimes. As part of Gimple’s multi-year plan for The Walking Dead Universe, there are other projects currently in development, including films, specials, series, digital content and more. “We’re excited to expand the series into a franchise that can live across multiple formats,” said David Madden, president of original programming for AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. “For many years, fans have talked about things in the apocalypse they want to see and now we have an opportunity to explore those stories, beginning with the character who started it all, Rick Grimes.”

NBCUniversal, Fox and Facebook pulled a Donald Trump campaign ad tying immigrants to crime, that ran on NBC, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business Network and targeted Facebook users in electoral battleground states. “After further review we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible,” said an NBCU spokesperson on Monday, while Facebook said the ad violated the social network’s ban on sensational content. CNN had rejected the ad on the grounds it was racist.

Game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy have been renewed through the 2022-2023 season, for seasons 40 and 39, respectively. “Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are two of the longest-running shows on television – and for good reason,” said Steve Hackett, president of sales for CBS Television Distribution. “They consistently deliver entertaining, timeless programming that the whole family can enjoy together.” The news comes on the heels of the contract renewals of the shows’ talent, Pat Sajak, Vanna White and Alex Trebek, last week.

LAST CALL (seriously) for Submissions: Cynopsis is producing its annual Holiday Programming Guide, which comes out on November 15 and will be sent to all Cynopsis subscribers. If your network has * holiday-themed * programming airing from November 15 through January 1, please send your listing to Lynn@Cynopsis.comand JanetDiLauro@gmail.comby the end of the day TODAY with the subject line: Holiday Guide. To be included programs must be listed by date, title of program, and the start and end times each program will air on that date. A confirmation email will be sent following each submission (if you don’t receive a confirmation email, please resubmit).

Illuminate your work, gain high-level exposure and join your short form peers for a festival like no other. Finalists will be announced in November and winners’ videos will be screened at the festival this March in NYC. This is your chance to have your work celebrated by industry leaders! (Take a peek at our jurors).

MTV is reimagining its 1999-2002 series Undressed, exploring the complicated dynamics of young adult relationships. “Undressed was ahead of its time and we’re looking forward to developing the series for a whole new generation,” said Pamela Post, head of scripted programming for MTV Studios, MTV, VH1 and Logo. “Much has changed in the dating/relationship world since the series first premiered and we’re excited to showcase how both have evolved.” The original’s creator, Roland Jaffe, will exec produce the new version, currently in development.

Lifetime greenlit two original movies. Pride and Prejudice: Atlanta, from Big Dreams Entertainment and Swirl Films, stars Reginald VelJohnston as the pastor of a Southern Baptist church and Jackee Harry as his wife, author of a self-help book on finding the perfect husband, with five single daughters. Very Valentine, to be produced in Bulgaria by Judith Verno and Sony Pictures Television, follows a woman (Kelen Coleman) and her grandmother (Jacqueline Bisset) trying to save their family’s shoe company.

TBS ordered a pilot for an unscripted comedy project, Unqualified (wt), starring Shaquille O’Neal and Ken Jeong. The order follows the duo’s showdown-gone-viral on rap battle series Drop the Mic. “These guys made magic on Drop The Mic together. Their chemistry is undeniable,” said Michael Bloom, SVP of unscripted and specials for TBS and TNT. “And no doubt that magic will extend to the unwitting people who expect anything to get done when they show up.”

Freddie Highmore (The Good Doctor) sold drama Love, Dad to ABC, via his overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. The project, written by Dave Collard, centers on blue collar siblings in Buffalo New York.

Red Arrow Studios International inked a deal with Universal Television for a U.S. version of procedural crime drama Einstein, to be developed for NBC and produced by Universal TV, in association with Carol Mendelsohn Productions and Intrigue Entertainment. Matthew Reisz (Charmed) is onboard as writer and an executive producer on the series, alongside Carol Mendelsohn (CSI) and Julie Weitz, via Carol Mendelsohn Productions, alongside Red Arrow Studio’s Jan David Frouman and Red Arrow Studio International’s Henrik Pabst and Shirley Bowers. The series, originally commissioned by Germany’s SAT.1, has sold to over 100 territories.

Fox is developing a drama based on an undercover operative at the DEA who was an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, reports Deadline. Project comes from eOne and Imagine Television.

The premiere for the fifth and final season of FXX’s You’re the Worst has been set for Wednesday, January 9 at 10p.

Discovery’s The Last Alaskans returns Sunday, November 25 at 10p, following modern-day pioneers living in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

New Facebook Watch series Pick, Flip & Drive debuts Monday, November 12 at 8p. Viewers watch as junkyard vehicles are transformed; after the reveal, cars will be available for purchase on Facebook Marketplace.

Five-part docu-series History of Food premieres on CuriosityStream Thursday, November 15, offering a deep dive into the science, history and cultural impact of food. The addition to the streaming and on-demand platform solidifies its mission to expand on genres, as it provides an array of nonfiction fare.

COMING UP

Starting Sunday, November 25, ION Television will “Bring the Holidays Home” with the U.S. television premiere of the first of six new holiday movies, Christmas Cupid’s Arrow at 9p.

Beginning on Black Friday, audiences can “Ride Through The Holidays” with INSP, with westerns, movies, and Christmas episodes of Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Daniel Boone, The Big Valley, and more. Plus, the network debuts original movie Christmas on the Coast on Sunday, November 25 at 8p, and a holiday special episode of INSP original series The Cowboy Way airs Friday, December 23 at 8p.

CNBC’s Fast Money Halftime Report celebrates Veterans Day with a special live program from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, NJ on Friday, November 9 at 12p. Over one hundred members of the armed forces will attend the taping.

Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ “Nine Night Thanksgiving” programming event, running from Saturday, November 17 through Sunday, November 25, kicks off with Hallmark Channel original Christmas at Graceland at 8p and HM&M’s Return to Christmas Creek at 9p on the 17th.

Leading into the new season, National Geographic is producing a special live presentation of its late-night talk show, StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson: Live From the Beacon Theatre, airing November 14. The show will focus on the search for life on alien water worlds.

DIGITAL

Gen Zers in the U.S. spend nearly three hours a day on their smartphones, according to Kantar’s “Centennials at 21” report, 45 minutes more than people age 21 and over. Snapchat was the most popular app, accounting for an average 28.9 minutes of usage, followed by internet browsing (25.8 minutes) and games (14.4 minutes).

Immersion Neuroscience, a technology that measuring unconscious emotional responses to advertising, TV, and film content, struck a television production relationship with Dorsey Pictures to take pre-tested series concepts to networks with audience impact already analyzed. “Network executives often lament the guesswork involved in series orders,” says Dorsey Pictures founding partner Chris Dorsey. “We looked at several measurement approaches and technologies and Immersion was the clear choice given their advanced algorithms and track record of success in both the advertising and film industries. We think it will offer network buyers an insurance policy of sorts when choosing which projects to green light.”

DPAA, the organization for everything digital out-of-home, announced that UK-based voodooh has joined the association. voodooh is an independent DOOH company for media owners and brands.

Acorn TV landed exclusive U.S. streaming rights to season five of British drama Line of Duty, created by Jed Mercurio, the brains behind BBC One ratings-smasher The Bodyguard. Previous seasons of Duty premiered on Hulu.

Content studio Gunpowder & Sky has launched its sci-fi channel Dust on Twitch, Sinclair streaming service STIRR and NBC’s WatchBack, with debuts on Vizio arriving November 16 and Samsung Plus in early December.

Alexa’s talking turkey. The annual Butterball Turkey Talk-Line now uses Alexa (“Alexa, ask Butterball”) to offer turkey tips, and videos from Butterball are available on Amazon Echo Show and Amazon’s Fire TV. The Talk-Line has offered holiday help to 50 million people since 1981, back when people used not-so-smart telephones.

Social movie ticketing platform Atom Tickets is teaming with Disney Movie Rewards to allow Atom customers to link their Disney Movie Rewards membership to their Atom Rewards account, and earn points for Disney ticket purchases. Disney Movie Rewards is the first studio reward program to join Atom’s list of loyalty programs, which includes exhibitors such as AMC Stubs and Regal Crown Club.

AMC Networks streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder have acquired seasons two and three of A Discovery of Witches, recently commissioned by UK’s Sky One. The first season is set to premiere on both the services in U.S. and Canada on January 17, 2019.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Information from a privacy breach that hackers claim affected 120 million Facebook accounts was obtained through malicious browser extensions installed off of Facebook, said Guy Rosen, VP, product management, adding, “We have contacted browser makers to ensure that known malicious extensions are no longer available to download in their stores.” Cybersecurity firm Digital Shadows estmates the number of affected Facebookers is far less than 120 million, closer to 81,000.

Barcroft Media has partnered with Snap to bring eight of its digital series to Snapchat. Ridiculous Rides, Snapped in the Wild, Beast Buddies, Born Different and Shake My Beauty are available to Snapchatters globally on the Discover page; previously released episodes are available using Snapchat’s Search feature. Barcroft seriesDog Dynasty, Hooked on the Look and Outrageous Homeswill premiere in the coming weeks.

Instagram is mulling offering School Stories that only a specific school’s students can see or contribute to, reports TechCrunch. Content would be manually reviewed to keep the environment safe. No comment, said Instagram.

MEASUREMENT & DATA

Snap is partnering with Comscore for measurement of each publisher’s total audience on Snapchat Discover, “an important step in our continued progress toward establishing valuable measurement practices,” said Nick Bell, Snap’s VP content. Data will be available to advertisers and publishers via Comscore’s Media Matric Multi-Platform.

Viewers age 55-64 gave the greatest attention to TV programs and commercials, according to TVision’s “eyes on screen” measurement in 3Q18. Viewers under age 18 scored the lowest. 35-44-year-olds were the second lowest, followed by viewers A18-24. Women score higher in both program attention and commercial attention than men.

For the latest insights on measurement practices and advances – and hands-on help deciphering it all – register for tomorrow’s interactive training event, the Cynopsis Measurement & Data Boot Camp.

ADVERTISING

A hiring freeze in in effect at least through the first quarter at global ad network WPP, reports Bloomberg. The ad company, which estimated a net sales decline of between 0.5% and 1% for 2018, had been considering adding about 2000 new employees.

Ford F-Series and History are collaborating on a six-hour prime time programming event the weekend of November 10, “Truck Weekend in America,” with Ford as exclusive sponsor. “Truck Weekend in America breaks with the traditional media mold with a programming event built on stories that are steeped in history, with an eye to the future,” said Paul Buccieri, president, A+E Networks Group.

While only 23% of advertising and agency execs said it was somewhat or extremely unethical to use people’s identity, behavior or emotional data to target them subconsciously, 57% of consumers objected to the practice, according to surveys done on behalf of Research Intelligencer. Asked if they felt the ad industry has an ethical responsibility for the impact of data usage on society, 79% of execs said yes.

UK’s Icon Films announced the commission by Love Nature UK, a joint venture between Blue Ant Media and Smithsonian Networks, for docu-series Malawi Wildlife Vet. The series will air on Love Nature 4K’s linear and streaming video platforms internationally and via Smithsonian Channel in the U.S.

The Royal Television has shortlisted the nominations for its 2018 Craft & Design Awards, with The Windsors Royal Wedding Special, The End of the F***ing World and A Very English Scandal leading the pack with four nods each. Awards will be presented on November 26 at the London Hilton.

The first international agreement for Armoza Formats’ new singing entertainment format Singerella has been signed with the UK’s Bandicoot TV, which has acquired the local rights to the show.

The Cynopsis TV Awards salute excellence in national TV programming, from writing and directing to casting and hosting. In addition, we recognize outstanding achievement across teams, platforms, and overall merit. In short, winning a Cynopsis TV Award is acknowledgement that your work has risen to the top in entertaining and enriching a broad audience. Winners will be announced at the highly-anticipated awards gala, this February in NYC.

With a boost from special Mickey’s 90th Spectacular, ABC grew +15% in total viewers on Sunday (to 3.9 million), and +33% among A18-49 (to 0.6/2), a new Sunday season best in the demo.

In its first year as a month-long event, Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” improved over the year-ago time period by +7% among total viewers (to 744,000) for the net’s most-watched October in three years. Led by the opening night of Hocus Pocus on October 1, Freeform delivered nine of the top ten movie telecasts for the month among W18-34.

With a football run-in, Fox’s The Simpsons on Sunday scored a season high 1.9 rating among A18-49.

Highlights from the Discovery portfolio for the month of October: Discovery Channel owned more top 10 unscripted cable series among M25-54 than any other network; for the second month in a row, HGTV delivered A25-54 ratings growth, with October finishing up 5% over last year; Food Network ranked #5 among W25-54 and #8 among upscale W25-54; TLC was the #3 cable network among W25-54 and had its highest October ratings in 5 years; ID had its best October ever for A25-54, W25-54, and M25-54 delivery; OWN’s The Haves & The Have Nots(1.68) and Greenleaf (1.52) both ranked among the top 5 original scripted series on ad-supported cable among W25-54.

Animal Planet’s Crikey! It’s the Irwins set an all-new record in the U.S. as the highest-rated series premiere ever among W25-54 and the highest-rated series premiere in more than five years among A25-54; Travel Channel finished October with a year-over-year 22% ratings increase among W25-54 and an 8% ratings increase among A25-54; Velocity ranked #34 on M25-54 delivery among ad-supported cable networks during the month, up three slots from last October; and Science Channel saw 2% year-over-year ratings growth among P2+ in October, for the highest-rated October among viewers P2+ in network history.

Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions) Friday, November 2, 2018time period averages

Holly Tang has been promoted from CFO, Bravo and Oxygen Media, to CFO, Bravo, Oxygen, Universal Kids and Head of Production Operations, Lifestyle Networks (Bravo, Oxygen, Universal Kids & E!). Tang joined Bravo eight years ago as Senior Director, Finance.

With Charlie Collier headed to FOX, AMC Networks added oversight of AMC, SundanceTV and IFC to the purview of Sarah Barnett, current president and GM of BBC America. David Madden, president of programming for AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios, will add responsibility for BBC America and IFC programming, and Linda Schupack, EVP of marketing for AMC and SundanceTV, has been upped to the newly created role of president of marketing, entertainment networks. The new structure “will enable us to better operate and leverage the strength of our entertainment networks as we continue to position the company to take advantage of new opportunities,” said chief transformation officer Jen Caserta.

Eric Bromberg has been promoted to General Manager of Gunpowder & Sky sci-fi channel Dust, and Adam Jensen joins as Head of Operations. Gunpowder & Sky also named Anna Levine as Digital Channel Manager and Kyle Brunick as Social Manager.

Today’s Trivia Question: Which sitting U.S. president was the first to appear on a TV network news program? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.)

Own Pac-12’s social media strategy; orchestrate social media production and curation across a wide spectrum of stakeholders. Min 4 yrs professional exp, w/at least 2 yrs as a social media guru.

Full Posting/Apply

HEREJOB OPENING:ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/Dateline/NBC News/NYC: Assist in all aspects of the production of non-fiction, non-scripted content for distribution. At least 3 yrs editorial prod exp in long form programming for ntwk or cable operations. DV shooting experience, including DSLR a must. Full info/apply HERE (11/13)

JOB OPENING:FIELD PRODUCER/Dateline/NBC News/NYC: Responsible for research, conducting interviews, field producing, shooting, and editing. Must have at least 6 yrs of exp working in long form, package or documentary programming. substantial shooting experience with a variety of cameras. Full info/apply HERE (11/13)

JOB OPENING:SEGMENT PRODUCER/EARLY TODAY MSNBC/NYC: Write/produce w/speed and accuracy for MSNBC Early Today. The Segment Producer is responsible for consistently delivering compelling in-depth news stories. 5 years of experience in live TV. Full info/apply HERE (11/13)

JOB OPENING:SOCIAL MEDIA MANGER/PAC-12/SF: Own Pac-12’s social media strategy; orchestrate social media production and curation across a wide spectrum of stakeholders. Min 4 yrs professional exp, w/at least 2 yrs as a social media guru Full Posting/Apply HERE (11/10)

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